


Falling Forward Into Orbit

by Roserayrose



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Ben really wishes he could hug his siblings, Dysfunctional Family, Five needs a hug, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, No Incest, Panic Attacks, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Reginald Hargreeves' A+ Parenting, Sibling Bonding, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-11
Updated: 2019-04-29
Packaged: 2019-11-15 13:34:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 15,423
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18074351
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Roserayrose/pseuds/Roserayrose
Summary: Five is trapped in the apocalypse for two months before he’s able to create another portal back. However, instead of falling back to his time, he ends up at a funeral with all his very-clearly-not-thirteen siblings. Well, shit.In which Klaus (and a frustrated-he-can’t-hug-his-little-brother-Ben) swear not to let Five get hurt with… mixed results, Diego and Vanya just want to help, and Five is more scared than he'll admit.





	1. Crash Landing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this thought wouldn’t leave me alone. Will have frequent updates (and a plot!)

Five felt horrible. His weary body ached with hunger pains, thirst, and his hands were rubbed raw from digging through the rubble of stores, trying to find something to eat. Anything to eat. He knew he needed to head out of the city with Delores, find someplace with more supplies, but he couldn’t bear to leave his home. The Academy had been many things, but no matter what, it had still been his home.

And now home to the graves of his siblings.

He cracked his knuckles, face tightening with determination as he pushed all his powers into trying to create a portal. Getting back to the past should be the same calculations as getting into the future, so _why_ was he _stuck in this fucking nightmare._ He gritted his teeth, and then – and then – a portal opened. Small, but there.

His heart skipped a beat and his concentration slipped, the rift disappearing. Terrified he wouldn’t be able to recreate it, he tried again, straining and focusing intensely, desperately. 

The rift grew and he didn’t even have to _think_ as he dove through, body protesting to the painful sting of time travel, his body instinctually knowing it wasn’t natural _._ He was ripped from the apocalypse to fall from higher than he’d anticipated and sprawled on the ground ungracefully.

He almost didn’t want to look up, in case he was wrong, in case he would only find a desolate, destroyed world. But he could feel the presence of people watching, hear their shuffling feet, and he really really hoped they weren’t going to attack him or kidnap him. He wasn’t in peak condition for a fight.

He had the fleeting, sudden realization that he’d left Delores behind. He hoped she wasn’t mad at him, but then all thoughts of his mannequin friend left him when he stumbled to his feet and saw who he was near.

He stared into the faces of his siblings, older than he knew them alive, rosier than they had been in death. They were alive, _gloriously_ alive, though looking eerily like the corpses he’d had to put several feet in the ground.

And they were all gaping at him.

“Does anyone else see... Little Number Five or is that just me?”  Klaus asked dazedly.

Five’s eyes filled with tears, his lip quivered. He — wait. Someone was missing. 

“Where’s Ben?” he demanded hoarsely. Vanya’s book had said he died, but where in the timeline where was he? They looked old, but Five had to be sure. He wanted to see his — full offense to the others — favorite brother alive. Desperately. 

Klaus made a funny, aborted jerking motion to the side. He seemed at a loss for words for once in his life.

 

* * *

 

When the pulsing portal-like thing – Klaus never claimed to have a way with words – spat a person out, the very last person Klaus had expected to see was little Number Five.

Five looked precisely the same as when the fateful breakfast he’d left, though skinnier, dirtier, and horribly more haunted, his shadowed eyes gleaming with tears. He was so much smaller than he was in Klaus’s memories.

Ben stayed by Klaus’s side, his eyes wide, grief and guilt written on his face. Ben hadn’t taken Five’s death well, none of them had, but… It had been bad. “Say something,” Ben urged, looking seconds away from trying to talk to Five himself. Knowing that interaction would only hurt Ben more, Klaus stumbled forward just as Five started to cry.

The boy drew in a shuddering breath, eyes filling with tears, then let out a sob and wrapped his arms around himself. Klaus didn’t hesitate to pull Five into his arms, and Ben tried to join the hug, only for his hand to pass through Five’s body, incorporeal. Ben looked devastated.

That was enough to jolt the other older — weird, being older— siblings toward Five, with Vanya holding a hand to her mouth in shock. The others formed a protective circle around them, like a shield. 

Klaus now had an armful of crying child. It had been so long, though clearly not that long for Five. What the hell had  _happened_?

“Five,” Luther began, looking uneasy and desperate to know more. He cleared his throat, getting a warning glare from everyone else, including Klaus. Even Ben glared at Luther, lips thinning.

“He better not make things worse,” Ben said darkly to Klaus.

Diego had the strangest expression on his face, torn between murderous and heartbroken. It wasn’t a good look on him, and Klaus especially hated it because it was painful to look at. What an asshole, making Klaus sadder.

Klaus realized that it had only been months – probably – for Five, so how the hell did he even know who he was hugging? Did he just not care _who_ was hugging him, was he that desperate for affection? Or had he met some other future version of them? Klaus almost hoped it was the first option because if Five had met them in the future, they’d obviously failed him.

Vanya mumbled something nonsensically about the warm house and how they should get Five was food. “Peanut butter and – and marshmallow sandwiches,” she mumbled, almost numbly, staring at Five with wide eyes.

Allison looked horrified, but shuffled her feet impatiently, clearly agreeing they needed to go inside. Klaus honestly didn’t care. If it started raining, whatever, he’d just use his body to shield Five.

“We need to know what happened,” Allison said softly, making Luther and Diego nod in agreement, looking antsy.

“Uh,” Klaus said, not succeeding in getting their attention. “UH,” he repeated louder. “Or how ‘bout we don’t question him until we get him some hot chocolate, and us, I don’t know, drinking something stronger?”

“No alcohol is strong enough for this,” Ben pointed out faintly, clenching his fists, probably to stop himself from reaching out to Five.

“True,” Klaus said. Luther gave him an odd look for that comment since he addressed it to the seemingly empty space beside him. God, it was like the entire family purposefully forgot that Klaus’s _whole thing_ was seeing ghosts. “Come on, shortie, we’re going –“ to the house, Klaus was going to say, but Five interrupted him before he could:

Through his crying — god he sounded so upset — he managed to gasp out: “Don’t leave me again. Not again. Don’t you _dare. Please._ ”

“No! Fuck that, no we’re going together, come on,” Klaus said, hefting Five higher in his arms and striding toward the house, trying to pretend like Five – who was light, but not _that_ light – was easy to carry. Unlike Luther, who must use steroids, that guy was built like a brick wall, Klaus wasn’t the strongest.

The other siblings trailed behind, and they situated themselves in the living room while Vanya mumbled something about sandwiches and rushed off. Klaus, Five, Ben, and Diego sat on the couch. Luther leaned against the couch with his arms crossed, and Allison stood at the other end of the couch, running a hand through her long hair in agitation.

 “It’s been seventeen years,” Luther began, looking unsure where the hell to begin.

“Who – what happened to you?” Diego asked at precisely the same time as Luther, clearly aching to put a knife through whatever had caused Five to act like this. The two brothers glared at each other briefly, then turned full attention back onto Five, who just burrowed himself deeper into Klaus’s arms.

Klaus guessed he had a permanent resident in his arms now. He was surprisingly fine with this. Ben frowned worriedly. “Ask Five if he has any injuries. He looks like he might have to go to the hospital. You _know_ how good he was – is – at hiding injuries.”

Right. Klaus asked Five, directly demanding the sneaky little guy not to hide any injuries – subtly wasn’t his strong suit. Five just shook his head again before finally unpeeling himself from Klaus. If only enough to look around at the others blearily.

“What —” Five’s hoarse voice cracked. “What day is it?” 

“24th,” Vanya said as she walked back in, sitting on the floor in front of Five and handing him a plate with a hastily made sandwich. “March 24th. 2019.” 

Five took a huge, shuddering breath that Klaus could feel, with Five still being so close to him. Five held the sandwich but didn’t eat it, just squeezed it so hard a marshmallow popped out.

“Seventeen years,” Five mumbled. He had clearly mastered the look of being both utterly serious and extremely scared in the time he’d been gone. “It’s been – two months. For me. _Shit._ Eight days.”

He started crying again.

Klaus felt like he was missing something very important. “Eight… days?” he questioned gently, rubbing Five’s back reassuringly, sending a helpless look to his siblings, who must have misread his gaze as being _what’s wrong with him,_ and not, _please tell me how to comfort this small child what the fuck why did he choose me to hug,_ because they didn’t offer any advice.

Five said, into Klaus’s now tear-stained shirt, voice muffled: “To the apocalypse.”

“Oh, _fuck that,_ ” Vanya said.

When Vanya cursed, Klaus knew shit was getting real.

An apocalypse…. “What she said,” Klaus said.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let's do this lads.  
> Comments are my lifeblood please lemme kno your thoughts <33


	2. Still Burning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Five opens up a bit about a very particular eye, and struggles. Good thing Vanya and Klaus are there.

Five knew in a distant way that Dad’s funeral was happening outside, though it still hadn’t truly sunk it. He knew because most of his siblings were missing from the living room, and he felt their lack of presence like a physical thing weighing on his chest. He hated how utterly relieved he was that Klaus and Vanya had stayed, both seeming thankful for an excuse to ditch the funeral anyway.

He’d last seen Dad two months ago, on the same day he found a newspaper with a small note at the bottom declaring Reginald Hargreeve’s death. Technically, he’d had more time to mourn for his father than any of his siblings. Two months of time. Two months of _fire_ and _destruction_ and the scent of _death_ – he was fine. He couldn’t go down _that_ rabbit hole. Instead, he inched closer to Vanya on the couch until his leg brushed hers.

The concrete proof that she was _real_ helped relax him.

He was glad it was Klaus and Vanya who stayed with him, though at this point, he wouldn’t have minded any of his idiot siblings. He’d missed them so much. Though he definitely hadn’t missed their ability to start arguing in the worst moments. Before they’d relaxed after his announcement of the apocalypse enough to return to the funeral, there had been so much yelling and noise. He was embarrassed to say he hadn’t bothered listening to their arguing since he’d been tucked against Klaus’s warm chest.

Klaus was on Five’s other side, and he was keeping up a running, rambling commentary that seemed to have no real purpose. It did, however, include a far-too-detailed step-by-step story of how Klaus had once waxed himself with chocolate. It only served to be irritatingly distracting and seeing as Five needed to brainstorm how to end the apocalypse, a distraction was the last thing he needed.

Eight days. Eight days was _nothing._ There was barely any time remaining with his siblings if the timeline stayed the same, and he was _not_ having that bullshit _._ He refused to let his – mostly – innocent siblings die… again. He couldn’t handle that, just the thought made him want to cling his Vanya and Klaus, though he resisted the urge.

Instead, he wrapped his arms around himself in a weak parody of a hug and drew his legs off the floor to tuck underneath himself.

He stewed in thought, absently fingering feel the prosthetic eye in his pocket that he’d found _in Luther’s immobile stiff fingers, bloody, so much blood, and the empty eyes – and god, that was Number One, he wasn’t supposed to look like that –_

“Five!”

That was his name. Someone was saying his name.

He blinked, suddenly aware of Klaus waving a hand in front of Five’s face. He flinched backward, releasing a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. There was a peculiar, twisted expression on Klaus’s face. His forehead was creased, his lips tightened and downturned, and altogether it looked painful.

Five stared at his brother blankly, breaths sharp and unsteady as he tried to remember how to _breathe._ Klaus. Alive. He was in the past, which was at the same time his future. He was safe.

For eight days.

“I need to go,” Five managed to wheeze, blinking back tears he refused to let fall. _Too much_ was happening. He needed _out_ of here. More importantly, he needed to find where this goddamn eye came from. “Where’s – the car? A car?” He might be able to teleport to place the eye was located at – _MeriTech –_ but the idea of using his powers made his stomach churn. He didn’t want to be stuck in the future again, though he knew, logically, it didn’t make sense.

It was irrational. Yet it was still terrifying.  

God, he was turning into Ben – too afraid of using his own powers. Afraid of himself.

He’d used to love his powers, he’d spend hours upon hours pouring over books, learning more, needing to know more, know his potential. He felt like that spark had been thoroughly stamped out.

He heaved himself off the couch and looked around as if a pair of keys would magically appear.

“You know…” Klaus said thoughtfully. “I kinda want to sit back and see what’ll happen – _no,_ never mind, I’m joking _,_ ” Klaus said, eyes flitting to the side with his sudden change of mind.  Klaus stood up, holding his hands up in surrender as he languidly made his way over to Five, who paced in a small circle. He felt emotionally and physically drained, and his body was so weak, he felt pathetic.

Vanya stood, too, and rubbed her arm, brow drawn together tightly. It was such a Vanya expression of worry, though Five was unused to seeing it on a much older face. He stared at her, not having seen her dead, only in a photo on the back of his autobiography. It was strange. “Bangs,” he said, almost to himself. _That’s_ what had been throwing him off. She’d finally gotten a haircut.

Vanya didn’t seem to understand what he meant. “Uh – okay? Five… please, you… you really should stay.”

If Five stayed, the apocalypse would happen. He _refused._ “No,” he said hoarsely instead of explaining how he couldn’t bare looking at their dead corpses again, couldn’t be trapped in another apocalypse. He licked his dry, chapped lips. “I have… important business to attend to.” He pulled the eye out and absently fingered with it.

Of course, that was when Klaus, in a catlike fashion, swiped the eyeball from Five’s fingers.  

“Do you really,” Five snapped, clenching his fists tightly, knowing he would be laughed at if he tried to grab it back. “Not have better things to do than steal _my things_?”

“Oh, I’ve got loads of better things to do,” Klaus said airily, holding the eyeball up to the light and making a face. “This thing is positively macabre. Truly ghastly. Absolutely Edgar-Allan-Poe’s-The-Raven – no” Five had tried to grab it back, but Klaus held it high above his head, almost idly sidestepping away. “I’m so into the goth thing, but… why? Wait, don’t tell me, it’s more fun to guess.”

Seeing as Klaus looked prepared to start listing his doubtlessly disturbing guesses, Five cut his losses.

“It’s an eye. Surely you can tell.”

“I can see that,” Klaus said, now holding it up in front of his eye and pulling another face, then he flourished his arms out, stumbling slightly with the motion and grinning. “Hah! ‘ _See’_! I should have a talk show. Now, let’s see, my first guess is –“

Five sighed with defeated resignation, shutting his eyes before he interrupted Klaus: “It’s the only clue I have to the end of the world.”

Dead silence. He opened his eyes. Klaus handed the eyeball back, smile cracking and falling off his face. His brother opened his mouth, and Five thought that he was going to say something stupid about Five being a downer, but instead, he just said, with a rare seriousness and purpose: “You don’t have to deal with that can of worms alone, you know.”  

Five’s mouth parted. Then he coiled his shoulders up defensively. “I can – I can handle it. You shouldn’t –“ _you shouldn’t have to see the apocalypse, you shouldn’t have to die, you need to stay far away from everything to do with this eye. “_ You don’t even know where to begin.”

“You don’t either,” Klaus pointed out, and he reached out and clamped a hand on Five’s shoulder. Five’s heart squeezed painfully, and he found himself at a loss for words or the energy to shove Klaus’s hand off him. “We’re here for you.”

Vanya nodded. “Five… I – I know I failed you before, but this time, I don’t want you to get in over your head. I get we don’t understand what you went through, but you’re so young, you know I wouldn’t leave you alone. I’d never.”

“I’m thirteen, I’m not… You…” the words died on Five’s lips, sticking in his mouth like ashes. He inspected his two siblings closely. All he saw was the genuine desire to _help,_ a sincerity he was unused to. He swallowed a lump in his throat. “Alright.”

“Alright?” Klaus and Vanya said in eerie unison.

Vanya blinked. “To… where, then?”

Five scrutinized the eye since it was easier than staring at his siblings. “MeriTech. It’s the manufacturing for this prosthetic eye. We need to find out who this eye belonged to.”

“I’ll drive,” Vanya said. “I wouldn’t trust Klaus too. Sorry – no offense.”

Klaus grinned. “I’m wounded. But oh, goodie, what fun this will be. The one with the most _useless_ power – for sneaking – the one with no powers, and…” he waved vaguely in Five’s direction like he wasn’t sure what to call Five. “This can only go well.”

“Can only end in disaster, you mean,” Vanya mumbled. “We shouldn’t leave now, though, it’s late and you must be tired… “

“No,” Five snapped. “The sooner the better.”

“Tomorrow morning _is_ soon,” she said, shepherding Five toward the bedrooms, presumably to put him to sleep. Moving made him dizzy – that couldn’t be good. He blinked blearily, lightheaded.

“Can’t believe you thought we’d let you go alone,” Klaus sighed, trailing after them, “to break into a manufacturing place, or – or whatever you have planned. You wouldn’t make it a street before being arrested or crashing.”

“I can drive,” Five snapped defensively. It didn’t look too hard, he could figure it out.

Vanya’s eyebrows rose. “ _Can_ you now?”

“I can do everything.”

“Except be humble.”

Klaus _oohed_ dramatically.

“I’m –“ Five started, unsure where he was going with the sentence, since the world was spinning distractingly, and his siblings’ voices seemed farther and farther and farther away and – he crumpled to the floor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the next chapter is already in the makings! tysm for such great comments on the first chapter, I'm a huge comments hoe so PLS continue to let me know ur thoughts it means a lot :>


	3. Thunder Echoes

Klaus had to say he was impressed by Vanya’s quick reaction. Five crumpled, and Vanya dove to stop him from hitting the floor. While it was less than graceful, and Vanya slowly sunk to the floor trying to support his weight, Five didn’t hit his head. Klaus rushed to her side as she called Five’s name to no response.

In the corner of his eyes, Klaus saw Ben crossing his arms, trying to look judgmental. He was too worried to pull it off. “I _told_ you he’s good at hiding his injuries,” Ben said. “Here – wait don’t move him. Tell Vanya not to move him.”

“Stop,” Klaus ordered Vanya, trying to look calm and collected, though since he _never_ looked calm and collected, he doubted it was effective. God, his heart was racing so much. “Don’t move him. It’s –“ he listened closely to Ben and repeated his brother’s words –“better to elevate his feet and lay him on the ground than try and take him someplace. Otherwise, it could make it worse.”

Vanya was sickly pale and panic was clear on her face, though she nodded curtly and did as she was told.

“Nerd,” Klaus muttered out of the corner of his mouth to Ben, who rolled his eyes.

“No, I just read, unlike you,” Ben said.

“Exactly.” Klaus checked over Five for any injuries in a frenzy of hurried, clumsy movements. Dear-Dead-Dad had given them all lessons on basic first aid, and though he’d forgotten most of it, he knew enough to get by. Probably.

“I think he fainted,” Vanya said, checking Five’s pulse and nodding to herself. She made no move to stop his frantic search for wounds. “Not – not hurt. Physically.”

Sufficiently satisfied that Five hadn’t been _shot_ or _stabbed_ or something – just the thought filled him with the same aching dread he had felt when Five went missing that fateful breakfast – Klaus took a deep breath. He looked at Five, so still and unbearably tiny. His cheeks were still wet from crying, and Klaus used his sleeve to scrub at his dirtied, tear-stained cheeks. Then in true big-brother (he was big now, he didn’t think he could ever get over that) fashion, he lightly slapped Five on the face.

Five shot up, unconscious one second and conscious the next. Klaus scrambled back, but it was too late to stop Five’s head from crashing into Klaus’s.

“ _Shit,_ ” Five gasped, looking disoriented and clutching his head.

“You fainted!” Klaus accused, holding his own head and seeing stars, though they faded quickly. He carefully looked over Five, darting his eyes all over the kid’s body. “What happened, buddy?”

Five looked unnerved. Probably by the nickname. Five experimentally tried to stand up and wobbled.

“Woah, woah, woah.” Klaus stood and reached out to help Five, stabilizing him. “Not so fast. You _fainted._ ”

“Dehydration,” Five said thoughtfully, still rubbing at his head. He cleared his throat, and Klaus realized just how hoarse the kid’s voice was and how dry he looked. Like a dead plant. He’d just spent a long time crying, which wasted water or some shit, and _who knew_ when the last time the little brat drunk some water had been.

“Yeah,” Vanya said with a sigh. “We’re definitely getting you to your bed. Klaus, could you…?” she trailed off weakly, but the subtext was clear.

Klaus cast another long look at Five, then rushed off to the kitchen to get water. He rummaged through cupboards just as a drenched Diego, Allison, and Luther trudged into the house, all frowning. It must have started raining. Luther had a long cut on his arm (his incredibly hairy arm, would it kill him to shave?) and Klaus could assume that was Diego’s doing.

“Where’s Five?” Diego said instantly, narrowing his eyes at the cupboards Klaus was going through like Five was hiding in there. “You didn’t let him _leave,_ did you? He seems a bit… loopy.”

Klaus turned around, precariously balancing four glasses of water. He handed Diego two, Luther and Allison one, then dutifully followed Ben’s instructions and found some watery food to give to Five too. Arms laden with a hulking slice of watermelon, a glass of water which sloshed as he moved, celery sticks stuck under his elbow, and a look of determination, he marched down to Five’s bedroom. His three other siblings demanded to know what he was doing, but reluctantly followed behind him when he didn’t answer.

Klaus used his foot to toe the door to Five’s bedroom open, then shuffled inside, nearly dropping the celery sticks as he adjusted his hold. “I got the goods,” he announced to Vanya, gesturing a bit too much with the cup and sloshing more water over the rim. Oops. He dumped his armful of things onto a handsome wooden desk.

Vanya plucked a glass of water from bewildered Allison and gave it to Five, who was slouching in his bed. She gestured to the others to hand over their waters, and when they didn’t do so immediately, she leveled them with an impressively judgmental frown. Damn, Klaus didn’t know she had it in her.

Luther and Diego quickly handed her the remaining cups of water.

“Can we _not_ drown Five?” Luther asked rhetorically, frowning sternly, though looking reluctantly curious for the actual reasons. Allison looked worriedly at Five, and Klaus wondered if she was thinking about her own kid.

Diego crossed his arms. “Yeah, I’m the only one who can breathe underwater here.”

Vanya rubbed the back of her neck as Five sipped at his water. “Uh, he fainted – Five. Dehydration.”

Diego made a ‘huh’ noise, then turned his attention onto Five, mouth slightly open. “When was the last time you drank water, bro?”

Five had a peculiar expression on his face as he looked at them all. Klaus struggled to remember what the whole team had looked like when they were thirteen, and while it was hard to picture, he knew it was very different from now. They acted differently, too. Five was probably thrown off by that, and, well, Klaus couldn’t think of any other reason Five had such a stricken, haunted expression. Five stared at them, but it was like he wasn’t _seeing_ them. It was disconcerting.

“Couple days,” Five finally admitted, then downed the rest of the water like it was a shot.

Klaus had a foggy memory of Five doing that with all his drinks when they were young; they’d thought it was hilarious and gotten in trouble several times for refusing to tell Dad why they were all giggling at the table. Going by the pinched, saddened look Allison had, he wasn’t the only one who remembered.

“A couple of –“ Diego started, then stopped and frowned. “You should’ve said something. Jesus.”

Five scowled and helped himself to some watermelon, looking like he was savoring each bite. He seemed to be enjoying it more than Klaus with drugs, and for a second Klaus wondered what the _hell_ was in that watermelon before remembering – apocalypse. Probably not much watermelon in the apocalypse, whatever the hell the apocalypse entailed. Five had been vague about that.

“He’ll be fine with some rest and hydration,” Vanya interjected, wringing her hands together, though she looked calmer now that Five was in bed. Or maybe she had taken some of her anxiety medication. “I just need to make sure he drinks his water…”

Five frowned. “I don’t need five people watching for that,” he pointed out, voice cracking because he was a literal infant, Jesus Christ.  

Diego shook his head gravely. “You do when the person can fucking teleport.”

Klaus clutched his heart, heaving the most horrified gasp he could physically do. “ _Language!_ ”

“No,” Vanya said. “I think Five’s right – we shouldn’t crowd him. Right?” She looked at Five, who shrugged.

Luther frowned. “Well, we can’t trust him not to _run off_ again, maybe we should stand guard, make sure he doesn’t leave us like last time –“

Five lifted his head, mouth agape for a second before a look of fierce anger took over his face. “ _Excuse_ me?”

“We just don’t want you to get hurt, that’s all.” Luther didn’t know when to shut up. “Besides, Dad always said that time travel could mess up someone’s mind.”

“I’m not crazy!” Five interrupted, eyes wild and a look of deep hurt settling onto his shoulders like a physical weight.

“He just got back, Luther,” Diego said defensively, putting himself squarely between Luther and Five, fingering his knife. Klaus’s gaze flickered to the wound already on Luther’s arm. _Shit,_ this was _not_ the time for fighting. Again.

Ben groaned. “If they fight….”

Luther clearly understood the subtext of Diego’s action. “You acting like I’m going to hurt Five, huh? I’m just trying to do what’s best for him. What’s best for the team.”

“Team?” Allison interrupted. “We’re _family._ Not some team.”

Ben sighed. “They’re going to fight. Klaus _do_ something.”

Klaus shuffled between Luther and Diego, raising his arms defensively when they both shot him glares. “As home renovation shows have taught me, big open-room spaces are _wa-ay_ better than this for family arguing and knife fights.” He snorted at his own nonsensical joke. “Rendezvous elsewhere.”

Luther looked ready to continue arguing, but a look around the room made him realize he had no allies, so he stormed away. Diego stalked out after him, with Allison trailing in their wake after casting an apologetic look to Vanya.

Five sat on the bed tensely, frowning deeply. “I tried to come back.”

“Huh?” Klaus felt he’d missed a memo.

“From… the apocalypse. I didn’t leave on purpose – I didn’t want to _leave_ my home.” He seemed rather desperate to make them understand. “Did you _really_ think that I’d ditched you guys?” He shoved enough scorn and derision into the words that they almost passed as sarcasm, but Five still had that weight on his shoulders and his eyes glittered.

Ben made a pained noise. “We totally thought that…”

Great, now Klaus felt like an asshole. Should he lie and pretend they knew the whole time Five was heroically trying to come back or something? One look at Five’s face convinced him. He should lie. He should definitely lie.

Unfortunately, he’d spent so long debating whether or not he should lie that Five had already taken his silence as an answer. His little face crumpled before he turned away from them resolutely laid down. “Goodnight,” he said firmly.

“Five…” Vanya began, gnawing her lip. “I –“

“ _Goodnight,_ ” Five repeated.

They took the hint and reluctantly left, flicking off the light switch on the way out.

After making good use of the drugs he’d bought earlier from selling Dad’s shit, Klaus slumped into the living room and collapsed onto the couch in a sprawled mess of limbs. He fell into an uneasy sleep. That part was nothing new. Just, usually, it was visions of ghosts mocking him that kept him awake, or actual ghosts, or some unholy combination of the two. This time, he was consumed with thoughts of Five, imagining a city in ruins and Five all alone.

The next morning he stumbled out of bed, cracked his back, and narrowly dodged a probably-awkward meeting with Pogo on his way to see Five. He was ninety-nine percent sure the whole Five-coming-back part of yesterday hadn’t been a fever dream, because Ben mentioned it when he woke up, but he felt the desperate need to confirm it anyway. Make sure it wasn’t a dream. That Five was safe.  

He knocked on Five’s door. There was no answer. Giving it up as a lost cause, he shouted, “Don’t be naked!” and barged in.

Not only was there no answer, there was no Five.

He stared at the empty bed. Ben peered over his shoulder and let out a small noise of despair. He rubbed his eyes. Five was still not here, though the sheets were rumpled, so he _had_ been here.

Okay. Don’t panic. It was only his _thirteen-_ year-old kid brother missing. His brother who could teleport. Could Five teleport to Hawaii? Klaus wondered hysterically. How would they ever find him?

“Do something!” Ben demanded.

Klaus nodded, took a deep breath, then turned and hollered: “DIEGO!” as loud as he possibly could.

* * *

 

Five sat on a bench across the street from MeriTech, dressed in a clean Umbrella Academy uniform he’d found in his closet, and tried to figure out a plan. He’d taken a taxi here, grabbing some money from his piggy bank to pay for it.  

Luther’s words echoed in his mind. He scowled down at his lap, fisting his hands angrily. He couldn’t believe they’d thought he’d purposefully left! It was an irrational hurt since he shouldn’t have expected anything more, and his siblings couldn’t have realistically _known_ , and yet… He had spent two months in hell trying to get back to his family, only for them to have apparently just… accepted his disappearance? In his fantasies of returning home, he had always imagined there having been some sort of search for him, maybe the assumption that he’d been kidnapped. The truth hurt in an indescribable way.

Whatever. It was fine.

Except it wasn’t, because there were only seven days until the apocalypse. And all he had to go on was an eye.

He stood up, dusted himself up, and after looking both ways for cars, he ran across the street. It would have been easier to teleport, but… he’d rather not be gaped at, not to mention… well. His own powers trapping him in his own personal hell had given him a strong sense of self-distrust.  

 He wandered into the manufacturing building and coaxed his way upstairs using his best pleading expressions, sneaking, and bullshitting. Then he stalked up to the first man in a white lab coat he saw and thrust the prosthetic eye to the brown-haired man’s startled face. “Whose eye is this?”

Alright, he admitted, not his best opening line, but the man _really_ didn’t have to squeak like a frightened animal.

There was an awkward pause. The rather plain-looking man cleared his throat. “Where did you find that eye, young man?”

“Playground. I got to… return it to its owner. The sooner the better.”

“… Okay? I can take it off your hands and run the serial number through –“

“ _No_!” Five interrupted urgently, his heart rate spiking. He started to wish he had brought Vanya and Klaus – they had seemed interested. He had just felt so betrayed this morning, waking up and feeling like they hadn’t missed him. So, he’d left before he was forced to confront him. Probably not his wisest decision.

“Now, listen here, I need –“ the man said, and Five, fuming, was _this close_ to attacking the man. Five let out a wordless sound of frustration suspiciously close to a snarl instead, panicked and angered at the idea of letting go of the eye. Luther had _died_ holding it. Five wouldn’t let this _useless_ man steal it and never give it back.

“I –“ Five started, but then faltered when he noticed the look the brown-haired man was sending to a woman behind a desk behind him. It was a clear _call security on this weird kid_ look. Five licked his lips, then frowned. “I’ll be back,” he said, spinning away and trying not to look too much like he was fleeing as he speed-walked away.

Outside the manufacturing building, he stuffed his hands in his pockets and trudged across the street. There was a cheap, virtually abandoned motel there, and he shuffled inside intent on finding a phone to call one of his siblings to pick him up. Preferably Vanya.

He went through the drab, beige lobby and up to a counter, dinging a little bell to let the missing receptionist know he was here. It rang through the room. He squinted at the silver bell, seeing the distorted reflection of several large men walking in after him, dressed in black.

With guns.

Oh shit.

He was about to teleport the hell _out_ of this place, but he noticed something else. Or rather: _someone_ else.

From a back door beyond the front desk, a young woman with black curly hair wandered out, a little silver nameplate on her blue coat declaring her as the receptionist. She let out a high-pitched shriek of terror at seeing the men with guns, and Dad’s training made Five hesitate to leave a presumably innocent woman to deal with these men. Dad had trained them to be superheroes – Five just had to stay calm. He was trained to handle this… kind of. This was just like a mission… kind of.

Except, with missions, he usually had a lot more information to go on and all of his siblings to support him and watch his back. Here, he was completely alone.

“Alright,” one of the men said, easing up behind him, gun aimed at Five’s head. “Come with us. We’ve been looking for you.”

Five cautiously turned to look up at the man, swallowing back his fear. He surveyed them all quickly. He’d never seen any of these freaks in his life. “And who the hell are you guys meant to be _?”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh shit its the time police and five doesnt even know they exist 
> 
> poor five, he's got no clue that vanya and the others did indeed miss him, miscommunication is a bitch. 
> 
> blease let me know your thoughts in the comments and/or yell at me for this cliffhanger!! i love every single comment i get they fill me with uncontainable joy and confidence since i never know how a chapter will be recieved til i read the comments, so bless


	4. Planet Alignment

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Five gets into a fight in a motel. Klaus and Diego team up to find him.

Diego stared at Klaus angrily, though Klaus thought that was somewhat unfair. “I still can’t believe that _you lost Five_ ,” Diego said, not for the first time. They were standing by the couch in the living room. Klaus eyed the bar, tempted to crack open some of Dad’s drinks but heroically – in his opinion – resisted the urge.

“No! Kind of.” Klaus gestured helplessly, anxiety twisting his stomach.

Diego ran a hair through his short hair, heavy stress lining his face. “We should check the roof.”

“Again?” They had already searched the house top-to-bottom. “Y’know, I think we have _better_ places to look than where the pigeons go.”

“Like where?”

“Like, oh, say, MeriTech. Where else would Five go than a place for prosthetic eyeballs?”

Diego looked baffled, and it seemed as if he couldn’t tell if Klaus was joking or not.

“You wouldn’t get it,” Klaus assured him, patting him on the head and grinning like a loon, “You missed a lot of bonding while you were attending a funeral like a – a _arschkriecher_!” Yeah, he’d memorized German insults when he was a teen (which certainly wasn’t what Dad’s library was intended to be used for), and what about it? “So, grab your coat and your knives, vigilante brother of mine, let’s hit the road.”

Diego scoffed and made no move to grab knives, which was actually fair since the weirdo was already wearing them. “What’s the _point_ of insulting me in another language if I can tell it’s an insult.”

“Uh, _style_ is the point, _”_ Klaus grumbled, then shepherded Diego out the great front doors of the Academy into the morning sun. It felt wrong for the day to be so nice, considering Five was missing ( _again,_ a traitorous part of Klaus’s mind whispered, he’d managed to lose Five after only just getting him back).

Ben materialized beside Klaus as Klaus got into Diego’s car and the ghost shook his head in the negative – there was no sign of Five inside then. Klaus had lied to Diego when he’d sworn off not triple checking the house since Ben had already been doing that like the good ghostly brother he was.  

The knowledge that Five was truly gone from the Academy made Klaus’s overly-cheery smile falter, and the dread in his stomach worsened.

Perhaps some of Klaus’s urgency and dread transferred to Diego, because Diego broke so many traffic laws it was a wonder they didn’t get pulled over, and Klaus definitely knew why the guy never made it past police academy.

They parked right outside MeriTech, stared up at the large, foreboding building, and exchanged a look.

“Alright,” Diego said commandingly, “It’s a big building, but if I cover the first floors, and you cover the top floors, we can –“

The sound of distant gunfire interrupted him. It was coming from a dingy motel across the street from them. Bystanders passing by the sidewalk rushed away from the noise.

Diego met Klaus’s wide-eyed gaze with his own panic-filled eyes, and they both fell over themselves charging out of the car, and despite Ben hopefully saying that it might not be where Five was, Klaus just _knew_ that was too good to be true. Because the Hargreeves luck was _shit._ And Diego knew it too.

* * *

 

Five’s heart was beating quicker than a hummingbird’s wings. He felt trapped – leaving would doom a random civilian, staying would doom _Five._

The bald man whose identity Five had demanded stared at Five, his jaw squared and brown eyes cold; steely. There was no pity there. It was the eyes of a killer, someone who was _good_ at killing and knew it.

“Kid,” the bald man said warningly. “Do you really think I want to have your death on my conscious?”

Five hesitated, nervous, and even more nervous to show any weakness. “…What do you want?”

“You aren’t supposed to be here,” the bald man said, the grip on his gun never wavering, his finger lightly touching the trigger. All it would take was the man tensing his finger…

“Anybody can come into a motel lobby,” Five pointed out absently, eyes flickering around the motel lobby.

_Ba-bum, ba-bum, ba-bum_ went his heart.

This would take a lot of improvising, he’d never taken down four men, not all by himself. He’d have to use his powers and hated the flash of fear the thought caused him.

The bald man looked pissed. Another of the darkly-dressed men behind him snarled. It was a sound of wordless anger. The others shifted, guns all pointing on Five. _Ba-bum. Ba-bum. Ba-bum._  

“You aren’t supposed to be in this _time,_ kid,” the bald man said gruffly. _Ba-bum, ba-bum, ba-bum-bum._ Five’s heart skipped a beat. “You’re changing things. The apocalypse is set in stone, you can’t change that – we won’t let you. There are three outcomes here. You return to the apocalypse. You come with _us._ Or we kill you. Which one is it?”

Holy shit, how did these guys _know_ about that? It was terrifying – did this mean he wasn’t the only time traveler?

“Huh,” Five said, thinking the outcomes over. _Ba-bum, ba-bum, ba-bum._ “I like option four –“ he tore through space, grabbing the silver bell as he went and appearing several feet above the bald man. Gravity gave him the extra force he needed to bring the bell down on the man’s head with enough force to make him crumple to the ground with a thud. One down. “ – me, beating all you.”

He ripped another hole through space as bullets rained through the air where he had been, and appeared behind the welcome desk, where he fumbled to grab a pen, just in case.  

He teleported back into the fray, ducking a spray of bullets to grab the bald man’s gun from beside his unconscious body. He appeared right behind one of the other men, who was too disoriented to realize what was happening. Five hefted the gun up and slammed the butt of the gun over the man’s head. The man fell to the ground with a grunt of pain. Two down. Halfway there.

The other two guns turned toward him – shit, he had to _move._

He teleported between the last two men and whistled for their attention. They were on opposite sides of Five and spun their guns to him, angry snarls on their faces. The second he saw their fingers pressing down on the triggers, he was gone.

The men shot each other, unable to stop the bullets once they were in the air, no kid between them to take them as they had planned. They both went down with sharp, piercing cries that rung in Five’s ears and surely his nightmares.

Five panted in the middle of the lobby, dropping the gun and bracing himself on his knees. _Ba-bum-ba-bum-ba-bum-ba-bum._ He felt faint.

There was a groan from behind him. He twisted, face screwing up with horror as he realized the man he’d hit with the gun was still conscious. And holding his gun. And pressing the trigger. And sending a bullet through the air.

Five teleported behind the front desk, making the young receptionist open her mouth in what must’ve been a loud scream of shock. His ears were ringing from all the bullets that had been flying around, so it was hard to tell, being temporarily deafened.

He breathed heavily, even as the young woman kept frantically gesturing at him. He peered down at his arm, which she kept pointing at. His jacket sleeve was ripped, and the skin revealed underneath it was an angry red – apparently, he hadn’t dodged that last bullet as well as he’d thought.

The second he wondered why it didn’t hurt, the pain struck him, and a part of his mind absently diagnosed himself with shock. It felt as if someone was pressing a red-hot piece of metal against his arm, _shit._ He touched the wound and hissed in pain, drawing back his now bloodied fingers.

The man who had grazed him was probably standing up by now, so Five heaved an exhausted breath, sweat beading his brow and making his hands clammy, and tried to do another spatial jump.

Nothing happened. He was too exhausted and wrought. Shit. He didn’t have _time_ for this right now. Grimacing, he tried again. His panic grew when nothing happened, no familial feeling of being pulled through space, nothing. He held up the pen he still had in a shaking hand, readying the only weapon he now had.

“What’d you do with him?!” someone yelled, loud enough that even with the painful side effects of _how fucking loud bullets were_ Five could hear him. He recognized that voice. He cautiously peered over the top desk, staring in shock at Diego, who held a knife to the throat of the man who had shot Five.

Klaus was beside him, looking frantically around.

Five didn’t even care how his brothers had managed to find him, all he felt was utter relief. He even forgot he was supposed to be mad at them, and it felt like a weight was lifted off his shoulders since they could handle this. It was okay.

* * *

 

Klaus knew that Diego hadn’t wanted him to come in the motel, seeing as Klaus’s powers were about the _worst_ for fighting in the whole group, but Klaus didn’t care and came anyway. Even Ben was incredulous that Diego suggested that. Did Diego _genuinely_ think that Klaus wouldn’t come in when little Number Five was in danger? If so, Diego had never been more wrong, because _hell no._

While Diego interrogated the darkly-dressed man, looking about two seconds from murder, Klaus’s only concern was Five. The motel was a mess. There were bodies strewn across the floor, only two of them – including the one Diego was dealing with – still breathing. He could smell gun powder and swore he could taste the metallic tinge of blood in the air, or maybe he was just biting his lip too hard. Bullet holes littered the desk, the walls, and some of the windows were cracked or completely shattered, glass sprinkled across the carpet.

There was a noise from behind the desk, and he moved toward it, grabbing one of the guns and cocking it (thanks, Dad, for that fun skill), only to lower it when he saw it was Five.

Five was half-crouching behind the desk, pale eyes wide, looking exhausted and frightened, clutching a pen in a white-knuckled hand. He held his arm to his chest awkwardly, and he looked deeply upset, but Klaus didn’t care about the doubtless extra therapy sessions this whole ordeal would cost, because _Five was alive._ The kid seemed to be in shock, which was understandable since he had either just killed two men, or seen them die, both of which were traumatizing, but he was _alive._

Ben made a sad little noise.

“Found him!” Klaus hollered to Diego without looking at him, eyes fixed on Five. He heard the distinct, rather nauseating sound of a neck being snapped, then Diego hurried over, not putting away his knives but lowering them at the sight of Five, then raising them just as fast at the sight of the young woman, who Klaus had disregarded as a threat

He strode over to her and hefted her to her feet, seeming torn between interrogating her or helping the obviously terrified young woman. “Who’re you?” Diego demanded, and she stammered something about working at the motel.

“She – she works here,” Five said in a small voice, ashen pale. “Nothing to do with it.”

After a tense pause, Diego patted the woman’s arm awkwardly in apology for assuming she was, y’know, evil, and motioned for the exit. She fled, but honestly, Klaus could care less. He only cared about Five right now and apparently, Diego felt the same.  

Diego surveyed Five critically, zeroing in on the kid’s arm. “Are you hurt? Who the hell are the men who _did_ this?”

Klaus helped Five stand, worried by the way the kid stumbled. He could hear police sirens getting steadily closer. “Come on, we need to scram before we get put in the back of a police car and Diego reunites with his police buddies in the worst way possible.”

Diego cursed. “Right. Let’s go.” He took a steadying breath then took the lead, ordering Klaus to keep Five looking away from the corpses.

Five looked at Klaus like he was an idiot when Klaus suggested Five cover his eyes, though Klaus noticed Five did resolutely stare straight ahead and never once looked down. Maybe Five _was_ listening.

On the way out the back door, Diego, ahem, _took care of,_ the last remaining bad guy after confirming with Five that he’d been one of the others. By took care of, Klaus of course meant _killed,_ because never let it be said that Diego wasn’t hardcore. Another reason he didn’t do well at the police academy, Klaus was sure.

How a guy with so many knives strapped to his body he was a walking circus act and a guy who probably looked high as hell (not too untrue) managed to make it to their car half-carrying a bloody thirteen-year-old would forever be a mystery. Thank god for idiot bystanders who were too distracted crowding outside the front of the motel to notice them, Klaus supposed.

Klaus sat in the backseat with Five and finally noticed the long rip in the sleeve the kid had been hiding. “Je-sus – did you get _shot_?” He immediately reached out and lifted Five’s arm for inspection, wincing in sympathy at the painful wound. It looked like it was a graze, thank god, but still.  “You did. Those assholes hurt you!”  

“Yes,” Five said grouchily, and his lack of a snarky comment really said how much pain he was in. He hunched in over himself, looking angry and upset. “I’m – did you guys really not miss me?” he burst out suddenly.

Klaus almost thought he’d misheard, because where the _hell_ had that come from? “Did those men tell you that?” he asked dangerously. They started driving, and while not as mad a rush as before, Diego was definitely pushing those speed limits. He was probably as eager as Klaus was to get Diego back to Mom and Pogo, who were both trained at treating injuries. In the driver’s seat, Diego, who was unsubtly eavesdropping, gripped the steering wheel tighter.

Five faltered, looking surprised. “No – they just want to kill me.”

That poor steering wheel.

“Then – what?” Klaus asked. Ben frowned beside him, seeming just as lost.

Five hunched over farther, looking terribly vulnerable and defensive. “Last night, you said you thought I’d just – _left you._ If you thought I would’ve abandoned you, and didn’t look for me after I disappeared, then you must not have miss –“

Diego interrupted him: “Hold on. I don’t know what the hell Klaus said, or how you got that impression, but, bro… We missed you. We were worried. We _looked._ For so long.”

Klaus finally remembered the conversation Five must be referring to, and his heart sunk. “No, no – I’m just awkward, that’s why I didn’t give an answer. Not – _that_. We might not have known you were in an apocalypse trying to get back, but we still missed you. We knew something – _bad_ must’ve happened. I even tried,” Klaus looked anywhere but Ben, “To summon you a few times.” He snorted humorlessly. “I thought you must be dead – wanted to see you again. We do care about you though. Everyone.”

Ben looked devastated but proud, a surprisingly common expression on the ghost’s face. “Hug him,” Ben suggested plaintively.

“That’s your solution to everything,” Klaus pointed out weakly, addressing Ben, though seeing as his chest physically hurt with the desire to hug the kid, he couldn’t blame his ghostly brother.

Five and Diego both ignored Klaus’s random comment addressed to seemingly nobody, too used to his behavior by now. Oh, if only they knew…

Five hesitantly smiled, his shoulders relaxing minutely. “Oh,” he said simply. “I didn’t –“

“We understand,” Diego said before Five could finish what was probably going to be a very sad sentence. Klaus was glad he did, though a depressing part of him that pondered what Five had been going to say (‘I didn’t know you loved me?’ ‘I didn’t know you cared?’ ‘I didn’t think I would be missed?’).

There was a moment in the car as they speed down the streets, Five still bleeding onto his shirt, with a dead brother by Klaus’s side and his other brother driving, where they all empathized with each other, all understood. It was a surprisingly tender moment.  

Then Diego asked, tensely: “So, what _happened?_ ”

Five scowled, smile vanishing, and if they weren’t in a car, Klaus would have hugged him, he hated to see the boy go back to his usual grumpy self, he deserved better. But there was nothing he could do.

Five sighed. “I was going to call for one of you to pick me up, and then… then those men came in, threatening to either – ah –“ Five seemed to struggle with how to say it, and Klaus gave him a warning glare that hopefully conveyed _don’t underexaggerate it you little twerp._ It must have been effective because Five finished with: “Either kill me, kidnap me, or send me back to the apocalypse.”

A wide-eyed Diego twisted around in his seat to face Five, swerving dangerously. “THEY WHAT!”

Five licked his lips, looking a bit scared. “Yeah.”

“So… that’s a thing that people somehow know about, why not, I guess, why not have life get even weirdo,” Klaus said, slightly hysterical. The idea of anyone sending Five back to that _nightmare_ of an apocalypse which he might not fully understand but knew to be horrible made something protective surge in his chest. “They won’t do that, though, baby bro, not on my watch.”

Diego nodded. “No, none of us will – we have to tell the others….” He trailed off. Klaus paled. They both realized that they hadn’t told any of their other siblings that they were leaving, or that Five was missing in the first place. Oh no.

Klaus gasped out: “Nose goes for who tells the others!” and immediately put a finger on his nose.

Diego, forced to keep his hands on the steering wheel lest they risk crashing, cursed Klaus out for unfair advantages the entire way back to the Academy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> diego rlly doesn't hold back, i was rewatching and in the first few minutes of the show he totally kills one of the home robbers during the clip of his vigilantism, like?? damn ok valid 
> 
> please let me know your thoughts!! It is a huge inspiration and helps me write these chapters so crazy quickly, bc lemme tell you, I don't think I've ever written anything quicker and it's all thank's to ya'll so pls,,, keep that up <3


	5. Constellations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Five has a short-lived moment of peace with his family. Klaus, Diego, and Five become the trio of our dreams and also stage a break-in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> happy seven-days-til the apocolypse it's march 25th ya'll,, *hacker voice* We're In (...the show's timeline)

Five supposed Klaus had been right. As his brother had predicted, there was a lot of yelling involved with getting him past his siblings to Mom to be treated. He was out of it and felt half-dead as Mom sat him on a hospital gurney in the infirmary room, tutting at his injuries.

He hadn’t seen Mom properly in _so long_ that he felt rather weak-kneed at the sight of her. His hands were stained with his own blood, and his arm hurt like a son of a bitch. To put it nicely: he looked like a wreck.

His siblings had never been good with mature ways of dealing with stress, though apparently, that had only gotten worse in age. They surrounded him on the hospital gurney and were yelling their heads off.

“How’d he even get hurt?!” Allison demanded sharply over the ruckus, crossing her arms in a stance eerily identical to the one Diego had. She sounded just like she had when she was thirteen, Five noted, and the thought sent a pang through him. He wished he had been there to grow up with them, it felt like even though he had them back, he still had _lost_ something. Something irreplaceable. He’d lost time.

“Uhh,” Diego said, looking nervous, and Klaus pointedly stuck a finger on his nose and winked with a shit-eating grin. Diego scowled. “He was shot.”

“I can speak for myself, you know,” Five commented, though nobody paid any attention to him. Grace finished disinfecting the bullet wound, humming a little, and began wrapping it.

“Jesus,” Luther breathed.

“What’d you two get him into?” Vanya asked Diego and Klaus in a small but worried voice, hunching in on herself. Again, with the ignoring him – why did everyone do that? It was patronizing.

“I get it, we worried you –” Diego started, trying for a soothing tone, and was interrupted by Allison:  

 **“** Worried?! … _Worried_?! Yeah, we’ve been worried. We woke up to all of you gone, _no_ explanation, Vanya nearly cried, Luther was all – _Luther_ – about it and… Guys, what the hell?”  

Klaus squirmed beside Five, then pointed at him. “Blame him, _he’s_ the one who got shot. Loving, _caring_ me was just there to save his ass – Klaus clutched his heart and sighed exaggeratedly. “– I had no other choice than to save sweet baby Five. Diego was there too.”

Five shot Klaus a venomous glare, and Klaus nonchalantly stepped out of arms reach of Five. Many things could be said about Klaus, but his brother definitely wasn’t an idiot.

“Now, sweetie,” Mom said with a big smile, ignoring everyone besides him as she tapped Five on the nose. He allowed it, since, well, it was _Mom._ She neatly pressed a bandage with yellow smiley faces over the bullet wound, and Five hissed through his teeth at the stinging pain he felt when she applied pressure. “You will need lots of rest, and no strenuous movement with your right arm.”

Allison, at Mom’s proclamation, simply said “Alright,” and sat neatly on the floor. It was weird seeing her in her expensive movie-star clothes plonking down on the hard floor, invoking a sense of wrong that’d happen if one of those stuffy old grandmas he always saw on TV who knitted and loved baking suddenly announced they were a part of the mafia.

He squinted at her suspiciously.  

Luther and Diego heaved themselves onto the floor beside her, Luther failing to find a natural position in his oversized, thick jacket that looked like it could fit several people inside and definitely made him look like a drug dealer.

“What’re you doing?” Vanya asked them guardedly, eyeing them like they were fit to explode any second. Considering Five was ninety-nine percent sure that Diego and Luther had gotten into a _knife fight_ last night, he could ask the same thing.

“Uh,” Allison drawled, “Exactly what it looks like. Making sure Five rests.” Then she shifted a bit to get comfortable and shuffled backward until she was flush with the wall, clearly settling in for the long run. Diego and Luther followed her lead, and after a shrug, Klaus plopped down, patting a spot beside him for Vanya. Vanya hesitantly sat down.

Something tight constricted Five’s heart, binding his breath in his lungs and making it hard to breathe. He shakily inhaled, his throat closing up. It felt like he was dying, but he recognized it was pure emotion. His chest was thick with it.

“Why?” he asked, trying to sound demanding but only succeeding in sounding confused.  

“Last time we left you to sleep alone you ran away and got shot,” Klaus said faux-brightly. Alright, fair enough considering Five had considered going back to MeriTech and learning more about that damn eye the second his siblings turned their backs.

Vanya nodded, brow furrowed. “Yeah,” she said. Her sentiment was echoed by all of her siblings in their own words, though Diego added enough cursing to his agreement that Allison swatted him.

Five slowly leaned back on the gurney, shutting his eyes and forcing himself to relax. He waited a few minutes. There were no sounds of movement from his siblings. No sign of them leaving.

He waited another few minutes.

Another.

Another.

After fifteen or so minutes, his belief that they would abandon him faded. They were here; he could hear their soft breathing and the murmurs of a conversation that Vanya and Klaus had struck up. They weren’t leaving him.

He smiled as he fell asleep.

Of course, this didn’t last too long. He woke up incredibly disoriented, with loud angry voices around him, and his surroundings totally different. Panic seized him, and he shot out of bed with a defensive scowl in place before realizing that the yelling stopped the moment he moved. He blinked rapidly, roughly rubbing his eyes of sleep.

His siblings stared back at him, frozen in the middle of a heated argument. Diego slowly lowered his arm from where he had been aggressively pointing at Luther.

Five paused and looked around, realizing that he hadn’t been kidnapped, he was just in his bedroom. They must have moved him while he was asleep, which was embarrassing, but not dangerous (at least not for him, for them, well…).

Klaus seemed jittery as he flourished a hand to Five, definitely high. “Look at that, sleeping beauty did indeed wake up to _loud yelling_. Called it.”  

Allison hurried over to Five, trying to push him gently back onto the bed. “You should get back to sleep – I _told_ you guys to lower your damn voices.” She directed the second part over her shoulder. Five batted away her attempts.

Diego threw up his hands in apparent disgust. “Well, _Luther_ can’t seem to shut the hell up about blaming one of us for Dad’s death.”

Allison huffed, crossing her arms shifting her weight onto her right hip as she glared at Luther. “You really didn’t last more than four hours before arguing over such a – a _wild_ theory. Next, you’ll be saying I killed him. Or _Five_.”

Luther paused for several heartbeats before opening his mouth to retort, and his hesitation caught Diego’s attention. Diego flexed his fingers like he wanted nothing more to grab a knife. “Really – Really?! Great leading Luther. Accusing the missing brother of murder! Nothing like that to bring us all together!”  

Five scowled past his hurt. He cared about all his siblings, and that included caring about what they thought of him. To think Luther would accuse him of murder – _Luther,_ who little over two months ago had sworn to Five that he would trust him, was… disturbing. Realistically, it hadn’t been that long for Luther, but for Five it was still fresh and felt like a betrayal. “I didn’t kill Dad,” he hissed. “Wha – how could you say that?”  

“I know you didn’t!” Luther defended earnestly, raising his hands to mollify them. “Diego is jumping to conclusions.”

“Oh, you’re one to talk.”

Klaus sighed. “There’s better things to do than argue.”

“Like what?” Luther snapped. “Getting high?”

Klaus’ face flashed through several indecipherable emotions before settling on irritated. “I meant there’s an apocalypse to stop since I’m apparently the only one who recalls that _fun_ little tidbit. I’m already high, get with the program, Luther.”

Luther winced. “Well, I – you know what Dad always said, about how time travel messes with the mind.”

Five felt his stomach drop. “You don’t believe me!” His voice cracked. Rage and utter disappointment filled him in equal amounts. He glowered at the entire room. “You’re all _useless!_ There’s – seven days! A week! Before the apocalypse!”

“In Luther’s defense,” Klaus lazily commented, “Seven days from now is April Fools Day.”

Five twisted to look at him, eyes widening in horror. “You were supposed to believe me!”

Klaus hastily shook his head. “No – I do. It’s just…” He weakly chuckled. “Funny. In a sad way. Like everything Luther does. Y’know?”

Five didn’t think it was funny at all. He had an apocalypse to stop, and his gaze darted across the room, settling on each of his siblings in turn as he selected who to bring along. He eyed Vanya speculatively for a moment, but she was so normal it wasn’t safe for her. “We don’t have time for this. Come on, Klaus, Diego –“ He grabbed Klaus by his garish shirt and dragged him to the door, Diego following behind, “– let’s _leave.”_

Five had a prosthetic eyeball to solve.  

* * *

 

Klaus, Diego, Ben, and Five all climbed into Diego’s car. Though, per usual, only Klaus was aware Ben was even there. It was a bit weird since it was barely over four hours ago that Diego and Klaus had broken the speed limit in a mad search for Five. He definitely wasn’t going to let _that_ happen again.

In the backseat, Klaus tried to put a comforting hand on Five’s shoulder since the boy looked incredibly stressed, but Five shrugged it away. The boy glared at Klaus with all the rage of a cat who was aware they were in a tiny, adorable body and was pissed as hell about how it worsened their ability for murder. Huh, Five _was_ a lot like a cat. Really – the whole vibe he gave, and – Klaus shook himself out of his thoughts before he spiraled.

“I have a plan,” Five said determinedly, though unsureness edged his words.

“Oh, pray tell?”

“Well, the eyeball is important. So –“

“What eyeball?” Diego interrupted, looking rather lost.

Five slipped a hand in his pocket, presumably to touch the aforementioned eye. “I found it, day after I got stuck. Same day I found everyone’s –“ he faltered, face crumpling for a half second before recovering. It sent a pang of worry through Klaus; _what had he been about to say._ “All I know is this eye – it’s important, to the apocalypse. So, we need to find more, and we can do that at MeriTech.”

“Alrighty,” Klaus said, blowing an irritated raspberry at how hopeless this situation felt. At least he’d get in some quality sibling time before the end of times or whatever, so it was fine.

“It’s really not alrighty,” Ben said like the pessimistic jerk he was. He made a face at his ghost brother, who made a face right back. The nerve! Oh shit, Diego and Five were still talking and he hadn’t been listening.

“ – so, you two will pose as my parents,” Five said. “I need an adult, to look normal.”

Klaus and Diego traded a disbelieving look. Klaus was far from normal. Diego was still covered in knives. If Five had wanted normal, he should’ve gone for Vanya.

“You sure?” Diego asked, clearly following Klaus’ line of thought.  

It would be a mess, Klaus decided, but he could make it work. “I didn’t take improv for nothing! Let’s do it, brother dear – or should I say, husband dear?”

Diego looked rather sick. “Yeah – this won’t work. How about we steal this info ourselves?”

Five blinked. “Huh, that’d work – cool! Wait, Klaus…”

“Yes?”

“When did you take improv?”

Klaus grinned widely. “Never have, but I’m sure I’m a natural.”

Twenty-five minutes later, he proved them right.

Diego had decided to go the boring criminal way (this guy was _seriously_ not made to be a cop), and they slipped through the lobby floor and past a door proclaiming the woods _STAFF ENTRANCE ONLY._

 “Hold on,” Klaus hissed, and gestured for Ben to go down the stairs first and check things out. Ben ran ahead while Diego and Five just stared at Klaus blankly, waiting for him to elaborate, then continued down the stairs when he didn’t. Why did he even try?

Ben materialized next to Klaus as the three brothers reached the sterile basement floor, which looked like a big lab combined with a storage area. “It’s all goo – did you really not wait for me to play lookout?”

“I _tried,_ ” Klaus said defensively, waving away Five’s question of who he was talking to.

Five unearthed the prosthetic eye from his pocket, handing it to Diego after a small argument of whether Diego could be trusted with it. Diego looked at the serial number, frowning. “If it’s from the future, it might not have been made.”

Diego went into a glass-windowed room that looked vaguely like a science lab and started rummaging through the cabinets. Five, meanwhile, methodically checked each serial number on all the eyes on the table in the middle of the windowed room.

Klaus wandered in after them, dodging a prosthetic eye that Five discarded over his shoulder. While his baby brother and Diego were doing whatever the hell they thought _that_ would accomplish, Klaus pursed his lips as he picked an important-looking clientele book from a counter at random. He flipped through it while Ben read it over his shoulder.

“Wait,” Ben said, batting Klaus’s shoulder with an incorporeal hand to get him to stop on a page that had caught the ghost’s attention. “This is shifty. Look.”

Klaus skimmed over it, then grinned. “Seems our friendly neighborhood MeriTech are sticking their toes in the black market.” After wiggling his fingers, he flipped to the last pages of the book, finding a pinned list of prosthetics titled by serial numbers and who had ordered them. “Found your eye, kiddo!”

Five gave a small gasp that had no right to sound so adorable while they were uncovering a conspiracy through illegal methods. Five spatial jumped beside Klaus and yanked the clientele book out of his hands, staring at the little innocuous serial number of the eye he was so obsessed with.

Diego joined them, surveying the book and nodding to himself: “Sold to some hospital in Jackpine Cove.”

“Get this,” Klaus said. “It _hasn’t_ been used yet. Or even sent to this hospital.”

“Should we take the – uh – present eye, then? So we got both?” Diego asked.

Five shook his head. “No – we’ll know who’s responsible for the apocalypse by whoever buys this eye. We need them to buy it, so we know. Leave it.”

Klaus wandered over to the table in the middle of the room, picking up a prosthetic arm and gesturing with it: “Well, we’ve got some _handy_ information, best be off, then.”

“Before you’re all caught,” Ben said, noticeably not including himself in that and looking somewhat smug about it. Wow, betrayed by his _own brother._ Klaus sent him a wounded look, which was ignored.

They quickly fled up the stairs and made it an admirable distance across the lobby before someone called out to them:

“Hey – aren’t you that kid who wanted to know about that eye? You need to give me that. It’s not yours, even if you found it. And – did you – you came out of the Staff door! I’ll call security!”

Five froze. Diego and Klaus spun around to face the rather bland-looking man in a lab coat who was frowning at them.

Klaus flashed Diego a vengeful grin, internally thinking of all the times Diego scared him by throwing knives at him, and then grabbed Diego’s hand and pressed himself to Diego’s side in a sort of side-hug. He groped for Five and after making contact, he dragged the unwilling boy to his side.

Klaus drew in his most dramatic, shuddering inhale. “How _dare_ you _yell at my_ _son_!”

The man blinked, looking taken aback. “Son?”

Diego had a look in his eyes like he was twitching to grab one of the knives and throw them at Klaus for real. Klaus bravely ignored that and continued with his Oscar-winning – in his opinion – performance. “Yes, our dearest, dearest son. Me and my _husband,_ why, we would _never_ raise him like that! And we would _never_ corrupt him by – by teaching him to break laws and sneak around! I can’t believe you’d try to trash our reputation!”

The man looked angry. “You’re lying.”

“Oh,” Klaus said, smiling devilishly and lowering his voice, noticing that there was nobody at the front desk, which was just perfect. “Definitely. But I’m not lying when I saw that if you _ever_ tell _anybody,_ well… I’ll have already reported you. For assault. And black-market dealings.”

“I haven’t –“

While Ben giggled in the background, Klaus spun around, winked at Diego, and punched Diego in the face hard enough to give the poor guy a split lip.

“ _Shit,”_ Diego cursed, grabbing at his face and grimacing with pain, rubbing his lips together. “That hurt! What –” Diego suddenly smirked, anger transforming to something impressed by Klaus’ stunt.

“You’re crazy,” the man said shakily, backing up, seeing something in the trio’s eyes that told him they were deadly serious. “Just – get out of here. I won’t tell, just – don’t come back.”

“Pleasure doing business,” Five said brightly, and then the three of them unattached themselves from each other and stalked out of MeriTech into the afternoon sun.

“That could’ve gone better,” Diego said, rubbing at his face.

“I thought it went perfectly,” Klaus said, laughing a little shakily with exhilaration, caught in the moment. “Ben agrees with me!”

He expected Ben to give his usual irritable ‘I didn’t say anything’ thing, but instead Ben stared at him in clear surprise. Klaus blinked, then it dawned on him. Shit – he’d said that in front of Five and Diego. Who weren’t aware Ben had been there every step of the way. Who probably wouldn’t believe him since he was high. Who were both gaping at him.

“What?!” Diego and Five yelled.

“Surprise?” Klaus said with inappropriately timed jazz hands.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> klaus, during any serious scenes: too much emotions time to j o k e!! 
> 
> i beg of you to comment it really makes my day and i love reading them all, each comment is genuinely heartwarming and rlly helps inspire and give me the confidence to write new chapters So Quickly anyway time to make a joke this is getting too serious--- WAit shIT klaus has that trademarked nvm no jokes. but do comment <3


	6. Solar Flares

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Five and Diego deal with learning that Ben's ghost is here. Eudora meets Klaus and Five. Five has an errand to run.

Five felt the color drain from his face after Klaus’s proclamation that _Ben_ was here.

Ben – his brother. His _family._ His brother who had died while Five wasn’t even there for him. To Five, Ben had been there forever, then the next second Five was in a strange, terrible world where Ben was dead. And now Ben was apparently here, outside the stupid MeriTech building, and suddenly Five couldn’t breathe.

Diego seemed at a loss for words, then his face twisted into a scowl. “Don’t joke about that. You’re high – you can’t see ghosts when you’re high.”

Klaus scratched at his neck uncomfortably. “I _am_ high.” He chuckled nervously. “I wouldn’t say I can’t see _any_ ghosts when I’m high.”

“But you have said that – many times!” Diego yelled, putting both his hands on Klaus’s shoulders and shaking him.

Klaus didn’t bother to shake Diego off. He just wiggled his hands in a wishy-washy way, scrunching up his face. “Yes,” he said weakly, “I did. Turns out, fun factamundo of the day, not _always…_ true. Ben can attest to that. He’s right by me. Been there since – well…”

Five stared intensely at the empty space beside Klaus, grief knotting his chest. He remembered the day he’d read Ben’s chapter in Vanya’s book – the denial, the horror, the grief, and the sudden realization that Ben hadn’t made it out of the Academy. He’d held hope for Vanya and Ben for being alive out in the apocalypse until he found the book. The fact that he’d still never found Vanya disturbed him. She probably died alone. 

Klaus cleared his throat. “He’s not on that side, kiddo –“ he gestured to his left – “Ben’s right there.”

Five felt tears stinging his eyes. “Huh.”

Diego went quiet, slowly taking his hands off of Klaus, seeming to register that Klaus wasn’t joking or hallucinating. His eyes were bigger and rounder than the moon as he looked from Klaus to the empty space indicated. “R – really?”

Five took a moment to realize that Diego stuttering should register as a sign of Diego’s shock since Five was so used to it just being the norm. In his time, Diego stuttered every day, but now apparently it was only under high stress. His older brother looked somewhat sick.

“Can… I talk to him?” Five asked, very quietly and very softly. It felt like his lungs had shrunk and with it his voice. All his usual demanding attitude seemed to have abandoned him in his time of need. Holy shit _Ben._ “Can he hear me?”

Klaus gave a big nod of his head, his hair bouncing with the motion. “Yes – he’s kinda freaking out – not sorry, it’s true! You are! Oh, say what you want, I’ll –“

Diego cleared his throat. He sounded hoarse when he next spoke: “Was that him? Speaking?”

“Obviously,” Five snapped, suddenly impatient and rather pissed. “Why didn’t you say something! Klaus! I – … _whatever._ This is pointless. Just tell – tell him I miss him.”

“You can tell him yourself,” Klaus said, raising his hands in the air as if to alleviate himself of that responsivity. “I’ll only be a ghost-translator for half of this.”

“We should move,” Diego said, looking around. They were in public.

Five glared at him, opening his mouth to retort that he didn’t give _two shits_ what anyone said, but then noticed an elderly woman staring at them. He spun to her, giving her a murderous look and making her squeak. “Don’t stare, asshole – we’re having a family moment here!”

“Yeah!” Klaus chimed in. “It, well, involves a lot of death, so get outta here. It’s _family_ moment, not stranger’s moment. There’s a _difference_!” The woman had left long in a huff before Klaus finished his speech, but Klaus clearly hadn’t been about to let that deter him from finishing.

Unfortunately, Diego was right that they shouldn’t be attracting too much attention. So, the three brothers – _no,_ _four, because holy shit Ben –_ shuffled to the shadowed side of the MeriTech building for more peace. It was colder in the shade, or maybe that was because Five was just so stunned it felt like a bucket of ice had been dumped on him.

Five took a deep breath, staring determinedly at Klaus’ side. And if he was looking at his eye-level because his only memory and visual for Ben had him at Five’s height, well... nobody called him out on it. “I… I’m sorry I wasn’t there.”

Klaus smiled, looking both amazed and teary-eyed like he wasn’t quite sure that this was happening. “He says it’s not your fault, and if you blame yourself, he’ll haunt you forever.”

Five had time in the apocalypse to think about all the things he wished he said to Ben, the brother who always joined him in the library and let Five ramble. The brother who came to Five for advice, and the one Five went to vice versa. He swallowed harshly, closing his eyes. If he closed them, he could imagine that Ben was actually in front of him.

“Love you, Ben. Sorry,” he mumbled, voice rough as sandpaper.

He opened his eyes. There was nothing in front of him. Only Klaus’ sympathetic face. Five rapidly blinked, not letting the tears sheening his eyes fall. Nothing. _There was nothing._ Because Ben was dead.

“Ben says he loves you back,” Klaus said, rubbing at his arm and eyeing – presumably – an invisible Ben. Then, a mischievous spark lit Klaus’ eyes: “He also said – and you have to do this, to honor his memory, yeah – he said to do this in his name.”

Klaus reached out and pulled Five into a hug, and Five limply let himself be hugged. His heart seemed like it was trying to crack in three (it had already been cracked in _two_ the day he time traveled).

Five slowly reached up and hugged him back, tears freely falling down his face as he burrowed his head into Klaus’ chest like he used to do to freshly laundered towels.

“Guys,” Diego said, sounding rather hoarse like there was a lump in his throat. Diego was always an emotional child, so it was rather relieving to Five to see him finally behaving normally. Familiarity went a long way, especially in such a different world.

Five pulled back like he’d been slapped, stuffing his hands in his pockets and stepping away from Klaus and Ben. He couldn’t resist darting a glance to Klaus and saw his brother frowning reproachfully at Diego.

“ _Family moment_!” Klaus said.

Diego crossed his arms tightly, though it looked less defensive and more like he was hugging himself. “I’ll talk to Ben later – _don’t interrupt me –_ “ Klaus had indeed opened his mouth to interrupt Diego “ – it’s because the cops are right across the street at that motel, and we should get out of here before… ah shit. She saw us.”

Five looked over. A policewoman across the street who had been scanning the area with a hand over her eyes to shield from the sun’s glare perked up and stalked in their direction.

She was jogging over from the motel, which was roped off with vibrant yellow police tape and surrounded by red and blue flashing police cars.

Five instinctually took a step back, eyes widening in alarm – did this scowling woman know that he was the murderer? And if so, how the hell did she know he’d killed some of the people in that motel? _Why was she coming over to them?_

He side-stepped closer to Klaus, then gave his brother a _What-The-Hell-Is-Happening-And-Are-You-Responsible_ look. Klaus didn’t say anything, just kept staring at the woman. Oh, that jerk _definitely_ knew what was happening, Five was sure of it.

* * *

 

Klaus had no idea what was happening.

This was true for most days, but still… it wasn’t exactly a good thing.

Five looked rather frightened, and clearly didn’t know what was happening, so Klaus suspiciously looked at Diego. His vigilante brother looked annoyed but there was a relaxation in his stance that made Klaus ease up.

“Who’s she?” Five hissed, looking about two seconds from teleporting back to the Academy.

“Nobody tells me these things,” Klaus said with a sigh, narrowing his eyes at Diego in question.

“Just my old police partner.”

Klaus grinned, eyes lighting up with an unholy glee that Ben could attest was usually reserved for splendidly terrible thrift shop finds like a Peppa the pig shirt that just said ‘bastard’ in comic sans. Which he did buy. “They totally boned,” he told Ben, who palmed his face but reluctantly nodded.

The policewoman came right up to them and halted, planting her hands on her hips. Her lips thinned with disapproval.

 “Hey,” Diego said, boldly ignoring Klaus’ comment. “Eudora, it’s good to see you.” The woman, Eudora, did not look whatsoever interested in pleasantries. She held up a taser threateningly and Diego shuffled away.

“Don’t call me Eudora.”

“See you haven’t changed, Detective Patch,” Diego said once he was arms distance away.

“ _Definitely boned,_ ” Klaus repeated with more excitement. He glanced at Five, who looked rather incredulous. Five had always been a skeptic. “Now that the cat’s out of the bag, the beans spilled, the –“ Five cleared his throat and Klaus stopped listing every metaphor for a secret being revealed that he knew – “Well… I can say Ben agrees.”

Five considered this then nodded seriously, lips thinning. “Then they _definitely_ boned.”

Klaus grinned – _victory!_ Ben rolled his eyes. “I can’t believe you’re using your _dead_ brother to make your impressionable little brother agree with you.”

“You _do_ agree, though,” Klaus reminded him, inwardly scoffing at anyone calling Five ‘impressionable.’ The little brat was so stubborn Klaus doubted he’d ever been impressionable.

Eudora stared at Klaus with something like horror and curiosity. Not unlike the look children had for dead animals seconds before they poked them with a stick. “Is that Klaus?” she asked.

Diego did not look pleased. “Eudora, meet Klaus. He has tact. _Don’t you, Klaus?”_

Klaus gave her a little wiggly-fingered wave and conspicuously didn’t answer Diego’s question.  

Eudora seemed to have finally taken them all in instead of hyper-focusing on Diego and slowly lowered the taser as she saw Five, though she appeared suspicious. She opened her mouth, but Diego beat her to the point –

“I didn’t kidnap the kid.”

She closed her mouth, then something else seemed to dawn on her and she opened it again.

“Klaus didn’t either.”

“Right…” she said slowly, then sighed. “Diego, what on _Earth_ have you gotten into this time?”

“Eudora, meet…” Diego wavered, gesturing vaguely at Five and Klaus but not saying anything. He seemed at a loss if he should be honest here.

Klaus understood that. Diego didn’t want to overwhelm the woman he was totally into and who was possibly his girlfriend. Unfortunately for Diego, Klaus understanding something didn’t mean shit, so Klaus helpfully chimed in, placing a hand on Five’s shoulder: “Five, Eudora. Eudora, Five. He is indeed the Five you’re thinking of.”

She took their little brother reappearing looking like he hadn’t aged a day decently well. “Nice… to… meet you?” She gazed at Diego imploringly, but Diego wasn’t forthcoming with an answer.

“Time travel’s a bitch,” Five interjected, his voice cracking like a prepubescent boy… which he was, so that was fair.  

“ _Language_!” Diego, Klaus, and Ben said in unison.

Five crossed his arms, scoffing. “Three months ago, Klaus taught me German curse words, and Diego got in trouble for saying fuck. But now that you’re older you’ve someone gotten _more_ boring _,_ and _more_ hypocritical _.”_

“Well butter my biscuits and call me a butt,” Klaus exclaimed somewhat nonsensically with a deep sigh, “That isn’t… _wrong._ Fuck, I mean – I _did_ teach you all you know.” He giggled. “Time travel is a bitch. I’ve gotten all – discombobulated up in the ol’ mind just thinking about how I taught you that three months ago, but also, like, seventeen years?”

Eudora blinked. “What?”

Right. She was still here.

Ben was hiding his face in his hands, muttering something about second-hand embarrassment. Jokes on him, assuming Klaus could _ever_ feel embarrassed. Pah.

“Don’t worry about it,” Klaus said, waving a hand like he could shoo away the confusion.

Eudora pinched the bridge of her nose, then rounded on Diego. “ _Diego_ – you care to explain what you’ve done?”

“Well, Five –“

“Not Five! The motel! The receptionist said she was attacked, and some kid saved her, then _you_ came. There are dead bodies in there, Diego.”

“They must’ve shot themselves,” Diego said stoutly, daring her to argue.

She scoffed. “Some, yes. Some had broken necks.”

“What a shame,” Diego said, inspecting his fingernails. It would’ve worked better if he was wearing nail polish (he really should wear some, Klaus had photo evidence from their teenage years that Diego rocked black nail polish).

“I’ve got to take you in, Diego.”

“I haven’t done anything wrong,” Diego countered easily, not looking very worried, and even helping Eudora handcuff him. Klaus squinted, trying to figure out if that was couple goals or more of the endless proof that his brother was a weirdo. “Five, Klaus… Ben.” Diego nodded shortly in farewell.

Five gave a serious nod in return like he was an accountant finalizing a – a tax deal or something (Klaus didn’t really know what accountants did, actually) and not literally in a school uniform. Klaus waved goodbye with exaggerated cheerfulness and blew a sloppy kiss.

Klaus heard Eudora hissing “ _Ben_?” to Diego as she carted him away, sounding appropriately bewildered. Eh, this was what she signed up for, dating a Hargreeves. Ben giggled somewhat manically, clearly still not used to _that_ doozy of a secret being out.

What Diego said to her was lost to distance, as he was manhandled into a cop car.

Five stared after him, looking lost in thought. Klaus clapped his hands obnoxiously to get his lil’ brother’s attention, and Five, blinking rapidly, turned to him. Klaus cleared his throat: “What say we do now?”

Five agitatedly started pacing. “We have to wait until someone buys that _stupid eye._ ”

“And how’ll we… know when someone does?” Klaus scrunched up his face.

“Think – _think_! We need someone who can talk to the hospital and get them to tell us when someone…” Five trailed off, and they exchanged a look.

“Allison!” Klaus and Five cried in unison.

“Back to the Academy then!” Klaus chirped, looking to where the car was parked. He technically couldn’t drive, but it should be fun. Especially since it wasn’t his car. “Come on!” He turned back. Five was already gone. That _little shit_. Grumbling, he jogged to the car, finding Five already in the backseat, seatbelt on and tapping his foot impatiently.

“I should put you in timeout for that,” Klaus muttered. “Or! Better than a timeout, I drive so fast we get to have a car chase with the cops! Hmm?”

Five paled, clearly unsure if Klaus was joking. “I’ll leave.”

“Spoilsport,” Klaus said, sighing. “Seatbelt on, Ben!”

“You’re a jerk,” Ben said; being incorporeal he could be touchy (Hah! Touchy! Get it!?) about jokes like that.

The trip back to the academy was quiet, all of them lost in thought about how cool it would be to be an actor like Allison. Or, well, Klaus was thinking about that, he couldn’t speak for the others.

Inside the Academy, they tracked down Allison, who was talking with Pogo. She looked up when they came over. “There you are! Pogo – I’ll look at the tapes later. Where have you _been_? I’ve been worried.”

Pogo left while Klaus, Five, and Ben shuffled forward, trying to explain what happened in simple terms. Klaus gave it up as a lost cause only one sentence in and just explained that the eye was important.

“And Diego is in jail,” Five added, making Allison’s eyebrows skyrocket.

“I’ll bail him out later,” she said dryly.

“His police girlfriend will let him go,” Klaus assured her.

Her eyebrows impossibly climbed higher. He grinned innocently as she slowly shook her head, laughing to herself: “I’m… not even going to touch on that. So, you just need me to rumor someone at this Jackpines hospital? I can do that. I can do _better_ than that.” She looked determined, and when Klaus prompted her she explained: “I can do it without my powers. I don’t want to – abuse them like I did before. Some doctor is bound to be a fan of me.”

They exchanged a smile before she wandered away to find her phone and make the call. Klaus wished that his power was more like that, something he could just decide not to use. No offense to Ben. He respected her decision to try and do it without powers, though he crossed his fingers she was right, and someone would recognize her.

“Say, Five, should we get some lunch?” He turned around to Five, finding the boy obviously with his head in the clouds. There was a faraway look in his eyes, and he looked paler than some of the ghosts Klaus saw.

Klaus waved a hand in front of Five’s face, and the boy startled. “What was that for?” Five demanded. Before Klaus could give an answer, Five continued: “Never mind. I’ll be… right back. I have to find someone. I shouldn’t have left her alone for so long.”

“That’s suspicious,” Ben said, looking alarmed. “He doesn’t know anyone besides us.”

“Not so fast there,” Klaus said, “Who?”

Five ignored him, taking a steadying breath. “I hate teleporting,” he grumbled to himself as he appeared to hype himself up. “Be back soon.” Then, he disappeared with a burst of blue, leaving Klaus grabbing at nothing.

“Shit,” Klaus said eloquently.

“Last time he disappeared, he got _shot,_ Klaus. Shot.”

“I know, I know, I know, I need to do something.” Klaus wrung his hands together. “I’ll get him lunch ready. For when he gets back! Don’t give me that look, what else am I supposed to do?” He had no clues for where the boy could’ve gone and no Diego to help him sleuth it out. If Five didn’t come back in under an hour, he’d have to go out searching and hope luck was with him, but until then…

Klaus wandered down to the kitchen, noticing that Mom was absent. She’d been acting off recently, so who knew where she’d ended up. He’d look for her in a bit since one missing person was good enough for him, thanks very much.

Ben read a book at the table while Klaus clumsily cracked some eggs into a ceramic bowl. He’d been planning on making microwavable ramen, but Sir Reginald Stuffy-Pants was apparently above that so eggs it was.

Just as he was searching for the frying pan, there was a tremendous crash from upstairs.

He looked up slowly, then exchanged a look with Ben. They both ran out of the room. “Five?” Klaus yelled, running up the stairs and skidding into the grand entry room with pillars and looking around.

But it wasn’t Five.

It was two people dressed in black holding guns and wearing bulbous, round masks. One mask was a pink bunny and the other a truly disturbing blue and yellow bear.

They turned to face him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ayee it's everyone's favorite baddies! they're a lil earlier than in canon, due too some offscreen bullshit that happened when i changed the fight from griddy's donuts to a motel. im sure nOthing bad will happen because its just klaus and allison in the academy wink wink 
> 
> hey. hey u. yes u. if you comment i'll love you forever and it srsly helps me write more!!! it also reassures me that ppl are actually interested in this story!! so!! pls comment!! i appreciate every single one <33


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